It's Electric! Electric Cars Go on Sale This Year

Published: 07-Jan-2010

WASHINGTON -- Electric cars have long been more of an idea than a reality. They've been hailed as the future of driving yet they're hard to find on car dealership lots. This year, that will change.

Several big automakers plan to start introducing a range of electric vehicles in late 2010, giving the broader public its first chance to buy the vehicles that rely more on the electrical outlet than the gas pump. In the next several years, most major car companies plan to release vehicles that use electricity to get around.

But buying an electric vehicle isn't like purchasing a gas-powered car.

	Meet Trev: the 90+ Mile Electric Commuter Car Student-built vehicle can do 0-60 in 10 seconds with top speed of 75 mph. Photo courtesy of University of South Australia.
	Johnson Control Develops RE3 Electric Concept Car RE3 electric concept car is designed to demonstrate use of different materials and flexible, novel ways of using space.
	Detroit Goes for Electric Cars, but Will Drivers? Ford plans to make only 10,000 of the electric vehicles a year at first - very few by Detroit standards - to test the market cautiously. GM and Toyota are following a similar cautious approach.